Easter 2: Second Reading, 1 John 1:1-2:2                         

1 John 1:1-2:2

God wants us to have certainty. I think it’s one of the reasons that the second person of the Holy Trinity came into our flesh. The apostle John gives such a witness at the beginning of his first general letter. His witness sounds as much like a modern-day newspaper account as the bank robbery at First National last Wednesday. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life …” (1 John 1:1). See what I mean? This event (person) we knew from real history. We heard, saw and touched him. This was the real deal. And now on with the report.

Knowing the certainty of God’s visitation to us lends itself to other claims to make in regard to what was seen and heard. Some of those things have to do with that divine person and some have to do with what our lives look like and carry because of that visit. Much of the second half of the reading we have before has to do with us “saying” or “confessing” things about how we respond to the teaching from God the Son. And the point of all our saying is that it needs to line up with what God says about us. And that brings certainty. We can claim to be in the light, but our lives better show it if the claim is to be valid. We can say we’ve never sinned, but He says we have. So one or the other of us is in error. I think we all know who has missed the mark. But having witnessed the reality of this amazing visit and having learned that our confession needs to be according to what he taught, we have a dilemma: we always come up short. The crucifixion of our Lord made that clear. But the resurrection of Jesus which we are celebrating this Easter season lends great hope. And so does John.

At the opening of 1 John 2, John  writes to his brothers and sisters, including us, that he hopes his writing will keep us from sin. And it can. But more times than not, the old Adam in us will not take his words fully to heart and we will skid into the filth of sin. We know now that Jesus has defeated sin and death and that issues forth in the joy of open confession of our sins before God. It’s one more version of saying what God says. Making that honest confession ends in joy as John makes us aware that as Jesus has ascended into heaven, he has done so to stand before his Father and ours in our defense. God be praised! John has made it clear to us that it’s always best to agree with our God, to indeed say what God says.